PRESS RELEASES

Three more citizens of Armenia controversially imprisoned during and after the disputed 2003 presidential election won on Tuesday lawsuits against their government filed to the European Court of Human Rights. The court declared the arrests illegal and ordered the Armenian government to pay each of the plaintiffs 4,500 euros ($5,700) in “non-pecuniary” damages. They will also get an additional 3,000 euros worth of compensation each for legal expenses incurred during the lengthy litigation.

Opposition leader Raffi Hovannisian said on Monday that he will continue to boycott sessions of the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) in protest against what he sees as its leniency towards the Armenian government.

'I have worked in over 50 developing states. However this was a unique experience and maybe useful or of interest for any foreigner without Armenian family relations', says Hans Boon, the director general of HayPost CJSC, in a letter to ArmInfo.

Policy Forum Armenia strongly condemns the November 17 attack on Edik Baghdasarian qualifying it as an assault on free speech. It calls upon the Armenian authorities to demonstrate political will and take immediate measures to bring the criminals involved to justice.

On September 5, 2008, the New York base International Court of Arbitration, attached to the International Chamber of commerce, named former ROA Minister of Nature Protection Vardan Ayvazyan, presently serving as President of the National Assembly’s Economic Affairs Committee, as a defendant in a case involving the issuance of mining exploration licenses that Hetq covered in detail at the beginning of this year.

Another attack on a journalist has happened in Armenia. On Monday evening, three unknown persons beat Edik Baghdasaryan, an award-winning investigative journalist, chairman of the “Investigative Journalists” NGO.

Molybdenum is a metal that doesn't lose its cool. Used in a variety of alloys for steel, it remains rigid at 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit, and doesn't melt until 4,730 degrees F, a point at which everything but four other natural elements have vaporized and disappeared.

The scenery is breathtaking. Sandwiched between two seas and home to Europe's highest mountains, the Caucasus has always been an alluring and darkly mysterious region. Its reputation rose during its long, slow conquest by imperial Russia in the 19th century. The Caucasus features prominently in the poetry of Pushkin and the fiction of Tolstoy. A classic Russian figure, the “superfluous man” who is powerless and doesn't fit in, first appeared in the character of Pechorin in Lermontov's novel, “A Hero of Our Time”, set in the Caucasus. Russian readers were also enthralled by the exploits of the Caucasian resistance hero, Imam Shamil.